The Way of True Love
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: She has to believe they'll be together again. SPOILERS! RumpBelle Het!


Title: "The Way of True Love"  
Author: Kat Lee  
Rating: PG-13/T  
Summary: She has to believe they'll be together again.  
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

She wonders as he allows himself to be taken from her if this is how it will always feel and rather or not he knows how much he's hurting her. He apologized just a little while earlier for waking her to die, but Belle knows as tears fall in her eyes and she turns back, watching him until he disappears, that dying with him would hurt so much less than having to live without him. She presses a hand against her right breast, but the touch can not quell the pain. Only one touch could, and she won't feel his flesh again for a very long time. If ever.

She gasps as her tears start to fall. She should be angry at him; a part of her is. How dare he send her away instead of allowing her to come with him! How dare he play the hero and leave her in such misery! How dare he leave her, period, regardless of the excuses, of the consequences! How can he let himself be taken away without any promise that he will be able to find her again and return to her?

Yet, a part of her still understands. He lost his son, and he blames himself for that and also, she fears, probably also Lacey. It was Lacey, after all, who took him back to the dark side, Lacey for whom he was wrecking such havoc and horror, Lacey for whom he used dark magic, Lacey for whom he was beating that man when Baelfire found him. But then again, she admits with a sad shake of her head and another gasp, none of it was for Lacey. It was all for her.

He let himself be lured back into the darkness, because that power was the only thing Lacey liked about him and she was the closest he could reach, at the time, to her. He beat people mercilessly, _killed_ people, to see her lips smile and her eyes shine with delight that he caused. He lost his son again, because he lost himself in trying to pleasure her, even if it was never really her.

He wanted her so badly, he _loved_ her so much, that he gave everything to be as close to her as he possibly could. He couldn't have her. He tried and tried to awaken her, but the magic was not his. The only way he could get close to her, the only way the thing she had been turned into would allow him to be close to her, was by doing evil, and so he did it and lost Baelfire in the process.

Belle places a hand over her mouth to silence her sobs. The ship is long gone now; she has to get back to town and warn the others before it is too late. He did everything for her. He ceased his wicked ways before, stopped using magic, and tried his best to be good for her, and then when what she had become wanted him to be evil, he turned back, although knowing fully that it would cost him the family he was beginning to win at last. He did so much for her; she has to do this for him.

She wishes it didn't hurt so much as she forces herself to turn away from whence she last saw him and begin the trek back to town. She can feel the distance growing between them with every step she takes. She wants to turn around, run and swim back to where she last saw him, and try her hardest to follow him, but she knows it would be a fool's errand.

Wherever he's going, he's trying to protect her by doing so and bring honor to Baelfire's name. He's trying to do the right thing, and before, he only ever tried to do right for her. He needs her now more than ever before. He needs her to be strong and to protect the others, to keep their world here in Storybrooke alive so that he has something to which to return. He needs her to keep going, so that he can return to _her_.

Belle wonders if this was what it felt like for Snow and Charming. They finally got their happily ever after but only after being torn apart so many times. They never lost hope, though. They always believed they would be reunited again, and she has to believe the same for herself and her own love.

The journey back to town is a hard path to see, but she knows it's the path she has to take. She has to give her true love this chance to do right, to clear himself of all the wicked things he did for her when she was Lacey, and to try to make something right out of losing his son. It's also hard to see for the tears that keep falling in her eyes. She continues to wipe them away, but every time she does, more fall in their place.

She's so tired of being separated from Rumpelstiltskin. She's so weary of this life where they seem unable to find happiness, but Charming and Snow found it. They deserve their true love no less than she and Rumpel. They'll find their way back together again, they must, for that is the way of true love.

She hears the sounds of a celebration long before she sees Granny's. She finally manages to dry the last, for now, of her tears before entering. The music dies when she steps in alone. Grumpy is the first to speak. "Belle?" he asks.

She shakes her head in the misery that fills her heart and soul. Her hands shake; her fingers curl around the note her beloved gave her to keep them all safe. Her voice quivers and not another sound is heard in the entire building as she tells the others of how their lives were saved, their town was saved, but Henry was taken. Henry was taken, and with him went their heroes, Snow and Charming, and her own hero, her beloved Rumpelstiltskin.

She doesn't know when Grumpy moves to be beside her, but she feels the gentle touch of his rugged hand against her own. He wants to hug her, she knows, but she also knows that he won't do it in front of the others and that no number of hugs could make the pain she feels any less unless they came from her true love. "They'll come home," he speaks sternly.

A buzz of agreement automatically backs him up. Belle's voice is quiet in the den as, still quivering, she agrees. "I know." Rumpel had to come back to her. They had to be reunited. He couldn't die out there, wherever he was going. They would make it back to each other. They had to, because that was the way of true love.

**The End**


End file.
